How to avoid rotting wood fence posts? We suggest digging around wood fence posts so seal and stain can reach down the concrete, locking out the moisture that causes a wood fence post to rot.
The seal and stains main purpose is to lock out moisture and make your wood fence last longer but we forget the part of our fence that is most likely to rot first. Most of the information on this topic shows you what to do when installing your fence but for most of us, we hire others to install our fence and it is us to perform the proper fence maintenance to protect our investment. And we do see it often, a fence 2-5 years old with the post rotting due to improper fence maintenance.
There is about 2” - 6” of dirt over top of the post concrete so that grass will grow. If you can dig down around the post when you are doing your normal fence seal and stain maintenance making sure you seal out moisture all the way to the concrete, your fence post will last longer than they would without the extra layer of moisture protection. If it does make sense for your application, you can use asphalt driveway sealant. The sealant is black and messy so if that is a problem just stick with your normal fence seal and stain.
A few more suggestions would be to never garden close to your fence post, to make sure sprinkler systems are not keeping your fence post wet, and to never mulch or do anything that could encourage moisture retainage. And this is how to stop wooden fence posts from rotting.
If the maintenance needed for wood fences makes you afraid check out our PVC Fence Versus A Wood Fence blog and vlog to check out your options before you purchase a new fence.
Comment below if you have any additional questions.
K & C Fence Company - Nashville Fence Contractor
